Wasting my time ?

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OP
OP
cyberknight

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
Good morning,

It may be ego bruising but have you asked those people who stopped turning up why?

You say that you moved clubs a year ago and have been organising the Sunday rides for a while. Whilst it may not have been intentional have you misunderstood the needs of the Sunday riders and somehow claimed a club's institution as your own domain and changed it or has everybody just decided that Saturday rides fit better with their family life?:smile:

If you get on with someone well you could possibly use him as a filter, so any really nasty answers might be toned down a bit.:smile:

Sorry if this sounds a bit harsh.

Bye

Ian
Not at all , the club founder asked me to run these rides at this pace .
Funnily enough today i posted a slower , shorter ride and 6 turned up , normally for me the pace would be a bit slow and short but as i was still getting over the lurgy it was enough .
I mentioned it to the wife of the club sec/ founder that i was disheartened with the usual attendance and we will go from there .
 
Only ever turn a ride you were doing anyway, into an organised ride. Otherwise ( as you quite rightly say ) you end up wasting your time a lot.
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
I enjoy solo rides as there's no pressure to keep blasting along. Out for a shortie yesterday while still suffering a frozen shoulder I had a revealing chat with the cafe owner, stopped to examine a dead badger and stopped again to banter with four E bike riders eating their lunches. Couldn't do that riding with friends.
 

jay clock

Massive member
Location
Hampshire UK
I like company. I disliked the one cycling club I tried as miserable and taciturn seemed to be the default mode. And when I got puncture half way round I got a "you'vergoteveverythingyouneedandknowthewaybackdon'tyou?cheersbye" out of the leader. Also for some reason they dislike triathletes. Odd

I organise my own rides now under my "rules" and planned speed of 23kmh. Very friendly and we don't drop anyone, but if they are too fast or slow they work it out pretty fast. My mailing list has 70+ and I get 2-6 typically which is perfect. And it starts 25 metres from my front door!
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
I have tried three local clubs and been unimpressed by all three as they all seemed to be run as private cliques for a small number of chums to go riding together at weekends. They never varied their routes, newcomers would get their legs ridden off and one club was unwelcoming to an inexperienced young Asian guy who started coming out with them. On top of that, in every group there would always be someone who was aggressive towards drivers, which was embarrassing. Club life is not for me.
 

Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
I sent off an enquiry to a local club about their weekend social rides and I have had two friendly replies already. I’ll join them on an intermediary speed ride on Saturday. Looking forward to the coffee and cake and bike chat.

Taster rides are free and if you join you hand over the princely sum of £12.50 per annum which has British Cycling affiliation. Seems like not much to lose.

I’ll still have my Audax and touring for a mix of social and solitude.
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
I think the quality of the club's organisation depends very much on the key members.

Two clubs that I know of in Lancashire were forced to go "underground" a couple of years ago after being attacked by a woman who joined then tried to claim compensation on the grounds that they didn't make allowance for her disability, whatever that was. One of the clubs spent significant money on a lawyer and she lost in Court. They now only communicate by Facebook, which makes them even more cliquey.
 
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Pale Rider

Legendary Member
I think the quality of the club's organisation depends very much on the key members.

Two clubs that I know of in Lancashire were forced to go "underground" a couple of years ago after being attacked by a woman who joined then tried to claim compensation on the grounds that they didn't make allowance for her disability, whatever that was. One of the clubs spent significant money on a lawyer and she lost in Court. They now only communicate by Facebook, which makes them even more cliquey.

It's true you never know who is going to pitch up.

My group was joined by a couple of people who, it transpired, had a history of being at the centre of trouble in other clubs.

Sure enough, there were ructions with my lot, and we lost half-a-dozen members.

A storm in a tea cup in one sense, but a small group such as ours can ill-afford to lose people.

Vetting new members via references/interviews might have prevented the problem, but it's unrealistic to expect a small, informal cycling group to have those procedures in place.
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
Sunday rides? :eek:

Wouldn't happen on the Isle of Lewis! ;)

Too true; Mrs Gti used to do a lot of quite necky diving out of Stornoway and on Sundays her local pals always insisted they drive around in her car so they wouldn't be recognised!
 

iandg

Legendary Member
Too true; Mrs Gti used to do a lot of quite necky diving out of Stornoway and on Sundays her local pals always insisted they drive around in her car so they wouldn't be recognised!

I joined the local running club soon after I moved here in 1998. There was an unwritten rule that if you went for a run on Sunday you wore no club kit.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
The collection of large houses that is Hampstead Garden Suburb in Golders Green, north west London, has its own residents' society.

One of the rules relates to which day residents are permitted to hang out washing - once or twice a week.

One homeowner did some topiary to his front hedge.

That resulted in a snotty letter from the society who considered chopping your hedge in the shape of a peacock to be too tacky for the suburb.
 
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